ACTINIC RADIATION DEVICE FOR SPEEDY RESIN CURE

• Main Authors: Blackwell, Charlie P, Swan, Michael D, Yun, Zhisheng, Ye, Sheng, Bruzzone, Charles L, Griffin, Michael E
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 21.06.2018
• Subjects: AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION ORRERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; MEASURING; MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; MEASURING QUANTITY OF HEAT; MEASURING TEMPERATURE; NAVIGATION; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY; PHYSICS; RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDEDFOR; SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SURVEYING; TESTING; THERMALLY-SENSITIVE ELEMENTS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; TRANSPORTING; WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE, IN GENERAL

Provided are devices for applying actinic radiation to a curable resin. The devices include a housing having a front face, an actinic radiation source arranged within the housing such that actinic radiation emerges from the housing through the front face, and a proximity detector. The proximity detector is functionally connected to the actinic radiation source such that the actinic radiation source is shut off unless the proximity detector detects the presence of a surface within a safe distance from the front face. Optionally, the device includes a surface temperature sensor functionally connected to the actinic radiation source such that the actinic radiation source is shut off if the surface temperature sensor senses a surface temperature exceeding a maximum safe surface temperature.